Labeo two-tone in your aquarium

Labeo two-color - a popular among aquarists fish of the family carp. In nature, it lives in fresh water bodies of Africa, South-East and South Asia. Prefers shallow overgrown with aquatic plants rivers, streams and flowing lakes.

Labeo two-color - a fairly large fish, in captivity growing to 20 cm in length. Her body is elongated, slender, the back is curved. Head is cylindrical, small. Lower mouth. There are 2 pairs of sensitive tendrils. The body of the fish has a dark blue color. In the same color painted all the fins, except the tail, which is bright red. At night, as well as under stress, the labeo become pale, sometimes almost white.

Fishes are mobile, active, sometimes even aggressive. The middle and lower layers occupy the pond. Protect the territory, attacking other inhabitants of the aquarium, especially those with a reddish color. There are frequent manifestations of intraspecific aggression, the result of which are skirmishes and quarrels. In a flock, a clear hierarchy is formed, while the leader easily appears on foreign territory, but does not let anyone into his own. Particularly goes to peaceful large fish like the scalar, which can unintentionally disturb the Labeo.

Compatibility is very important when keeping these fish. When choosing the Labeo neighbors, one needs to study their character and lifestyle well, in order to avoid the sad consequences. Representatives of other active, moderately aggressive species will best survive with them. These are Sumatran and Bream-like barbs, gouramis (golden, marble, blue), macro-pops, shark.

In the aquarium, where the two-color labe lives, there must be a lot of aquatic plants, including large-leaved ones (such as echinodorus), snags, labyrinths, caves and stones. In these shelters, more peaceful and weak individuals will be able to escape from aggressive neighbors. Individual shelters should be organized so that the fish settled in them can not see each other. It is important that in an artificial reservoir there is enough space for all its inhabitants, since closeness breeds quarrels. Ideally, one person labo needs 80 liters of water.

Aquarium fish Labeo prefer dark soil and low scattered light. The water parameters are as follows: pH 6.5-7.5, hardness 5-15 °, temperature 23-27 ° С. It will require aeration, filtration, substitution of approximately 20% of the volume of water weekly.

Labeo bicolour eagerly eats as a living (coretra, bloodworm, small gammarus, tubule) and vegetable feed, as well as artificial mixtures. If the walls of the aquarium grow algae, fish will be happy to clean them. You can also periodically put in water a sheet of glass, covered with algae - this will be a treat for the Labeo.

Breeding of these fish is a difficult process because of the small number of males in litters and the need for bulk reservoirs for spawning. Labeo reach puberty in 1-1,5 years. For reproduction, you need an aquarium with a capacity of 500 liters with a lot of shelters, thickets of plants and muted light. For one female, there are ideally two males. 2 weeks before spawning, they begin to feed daphnia, cyclops, moth, tuber, frozen spinach and scalded lettuce leaves. Keep them at the same time separately. Productivity of the female of two-color Labeo - up to 1000 eggs. Up to 50% of fry perishes in the first 2 weeks of life, but with other difficulties, as a rule, does not arise.